Hey Chief
by MarblesG
Summary: Toph and Lin have a talk. Chief to chief.


**Disclaimer : I don't own lok**

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><p>"Hey, Chief. Can I talk to you for a minute?"<p>

Lin physically cringed at the sound of her mother's voice. She continued leading their group through the forest. They were searching for the new prison camps Kuvira had installed. It was their best chance at finding Su and the others. She answered back with more nervousness than she expected. "Um. Is it important?"

"Get your ass over here, Lin."

There was a large lump in her throat that she was struggling with as she slowly slowed down towards the back of the group. The chief of police passed both Opal and Bolin, the boy giving her a curious expression. Opal got the message and nudged him to take the lead with her following close behind. The two ex lovers distanced themselves from the older Beifongs.

Once she was side by side with her mother, Lin didn't dare take a look even though she knew it wouldn't make a difference. Her heartbeat was telling Toph exactly what she wanted.

The inventor of metalbending cleared her throat. "Since I'd rather not have a giant distraction when we start fighting, let's talk about the elephant koi in the room shall we."

"Um. What elephant koi?" Lin's head focused on staying forward.

"You've been saying Um a lot today and it's starting to get on my nerves. When did you become such a bad liar?"

The current chief's heart rate was increasing. Nonetheless, she stood her ground and took a deep breath so that her voice came out steady. "It's been more than thirty years. I'm sure it wouldn't be a giant distraction for you."

"Cut the crap, Lin. You've avoided talking about it for years. I know you've already made up with Suyin."

"How do you exactly know that?"

"I just know alright. Plus, you wouldn't be here with Opal if you didn't, know would you?"

Her mother was the victor once more. Used to being the person with the last word, Lin found it irritating to be in the presence of the only person who could win over her. Boy, did it bring back memories.

Toph closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm...sorry."

The apology slapped her across the face. Lin finally turned her head to her mother. "Why are you apologizing? I could have sworn just a minute ago you were trying to get me to say sorry."

The punch to her shoulder was hard...yet comforting. The older woman scowled. "Damnit. You know I hate saying these things. Give me a break will ya. I gave you one for a third of a century."

Round two once again went to her mother. The entire conversation was tiring Lin out. She held her shoulder as she responded. "Alright. I get it. Proceed."

"Right. Where was I? Oh yeah. I guess I'm sorry. I sorta didn't do the ethical thing with you and Su back then and it let you down. As Chief, I probably shouldn't have erased the whole incident, but I just couldn't. You girls were driving me up the wall and I didn't know what else to do."

Lin let the words sink in as they continued walking. Her eyes were concentrated on the earth below her and she planned what she was going to say. For both her and her mother, they always had trouble with these sort of conversations. "I'm sorry too. At the time I thought it was wrong, but I learned in the past few years that you have to do some things that may not agree with you. If anything, Su was probably better off traveling around and figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. I should have never pushed her into anything. And I shouldn't have pushed you into thinking you did the wrong thing." She was squeezing her hands together at this point. "I should have trusted your decision."

A refreshing breeze past by them. Lin breathed in deeply. Next to her, her mother was just chuckling.

She dared to question. "What's so funny?"

"Feels familiar, doesn't it?"

Lin was still confused. "I don't understand."

Toph smiled. "You learn a lot when you get in touch with your spiritual side. Twinkle Toes never could leave me alone. Even when he's dead."

Her daughter was still giving her a weird face. "I didn't know if I'd ever see the day you became spiritual."

"It's called trying new things, something you should give a go."

And Lin's scowl was back. Her arms crossed, a gesture that her mother saw right through.

"You do that a lot, don't you?"

"Do what?"

"Cross your arms."

The nervousness suddenly came back. "Um, yeah. So what?"

Toph held her hands tighter behind her back. "You know, Sokka gave me a whole lecture about this years ago. Apparently, since I'm blind, I rely on touch, other than my earth bending, to see and convey my feelings."

"Okay." Lin shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not blind."

"Yeah, but you were raised by someone who was."

"Was that you? Because I don't remember being raised." She was gaining her confidence back.

Toph shook her head. "To the point. No matter what you guys say, you and Su being under my household had an affect on you guys. Would you rather have lived somewhere else?"

Lin thought carefully. "Well-"

"_Would you rather have grown up somewhere else._"

And round three went to the old blind woman. Lin defltated. "No."

"That's what I thought. Anyways, you cross your arms because you feel the need to touch people you interact with. I did it when you girls were kids. So you do it involuntarily. Suyin does it too. You do it to each other." The older Beifong crossed her own arms in effect.

Lin thought back on all the times she put her arm around Su or touched her face in the last few years. At the thought, she silently handed over round four to her mother. "What's your point?"

"You can't do that with other people, so you cross your arms to restrain yourself."

"Again, your point?"

She found her mother had stopped walking and she stood there indifferently. Lin cocked her head to the side.

Toph cleared her throat. "Look, you and I both know we aren't like Katara and her kids. We aren't going to have long speeches about how much we love each other and all that shit. So if you're good, I'm good. You good?"

She stared at the master earthbender for several seconds. Thirty plus years of built up tension is what brought them here today. To anyone else, this reunion was a bit anti climatic, but by Beifong standards, the conversation was heavy. They never could say it in words.

"I'm good...Mom."

"Alright then. Come over here."

So they said it through touch.

The moment she approached her mother, Toph's hands came up to her cheeks. Even at 84 years old, Lin could feel the power in them, something she was always astounded on as a child. Toph's thumbs grazed over her eyes, down the sides of her nose, and across her cheeks. Lin felt her mother linger on the parallel scar tissue. She just closed her eyes. Toph continued and ran her fingers further and past her lips. In the end, her left hand chilted Lin's face up by her chin. The current chief of police didn't even realize her own hands holding on to her mothers arms as she conducted her inspection.

Toph cut the silence first. "Damn, you got old, Lin."

"Speak for yourself. I swear your shorter than when you were fighting in the war."

"Give me a break. I'm almost a century old."

They both turned to the sound of footsteps approaching. "Grandma Toph, Aunt Lin, I just remembered-" The young airbender gasped. "Spirits, you guys aren't about to fight are you?"

Lin and Toph both let go of each other and crossed their arms. Opal's aunt answered first. "No, nope. We weren't. What did you remember, kid?"

The youngest Beifong eyed them and continued. "Well, I was gonna ask if the swamp was far from here."

"What the hell do you want with my swamp?"

Lin and Opal eyed Toph. They spoke in sync. "Your swamp?"

The old woman shrugged. "I've taken up residence there."

"No wonder you smell like mud. Well more mud than usual." Opal laughed at Lin's reply.

"The swamp! We were asking something about the swamp?" Toph tried to get back on track.

Opal focused once more. "Oh yeah. Kuvira is harvesting spirit vines in the swamp. Korra saw her and now the vines are attacking. Do you think our family is there too? It would make sense if Kuvira was trying to keep them close."

Lin thought carefully. "That's not a bad observation-"

Before she could finish, a body hopped on her back and kicked her in the rear. Lin yelped and unconsciously latched onto the person's legs.

"WE GOTTA HIGH TAIL IT OUT OF HERE."

Lin yelled again at her mother kicking her ass. "Mom, Su and the rest of them are still captured, don't you think that's more important-"

Toph didn't care. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's probably there too. BUT WE GOTTA GET TO MY SWAMP."

"For the last time, it isn't yours-"

The ground shifted below them and they were sliding in a different direction in what they assumed was where the swamp was.

"You guys? Wait for me!"

Bolin ran right after them.


End file.
